In 1975 and 1976, at the direction of the House Committee on Appropriations, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, under the auspices of the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council, sponsored the second Task Force for Research Planning in Environmental Health Sciences. The Task Force, composed of a wide variety of environmental health scientists, undertook a year-long study to determine the research and manpower needs and opportunities in the broad field of environmental health. The final report of the Task Force, "Human Health and the Environment - Some Research Needs" was presented to the Congress in January, 1977. Because of the breadth of the Task Force's review, the recommendations contained in the report are not limited to the programs of the NIEHS. Rather, they range across the entire field of environmental health and by implication, the various Federal Programs with responsibilities in this area. This study through the efforts of three work groups composed of scientists working in the field, will convert the wide-ranging Task Force II report to a set of program plans, specifically addressing the mission interests and responsibilities of the NIEHS.